Chinese fossils show rapid marine recovery after major extinction

A recently discovered fossil bed in southwest China has shown a rapid recovery of marine species that are still surviving today after a mass extinction 250 million years ago.

The discovery, published in the journal Science, describes clusters fossils in an “exceptional” state of preservation found in Guiyang, Guizhou Province, the largest sedimentary deposit of its type discovered to date, the official Xinhua news agency said today.

According to the study, the specimens, which include various species of fish and lobster, “demonstrate the rapid emergence of a sustainable modern-type marine ecosystem.”

The extinction event of 252 million years ago is considered the most terrible event on the planet, it led to the extinction of 80 percent of marine species and especially affected static organisms.

Until now, due to the absence fossils well preserved, to explain this, it was not known exactly how a new ecosystem with a holistic structure, including predators and prey, appeared, the publication points out.

new marine ecosystem

The picture changed in 2015 when a group of paleontologists from the Wuhan University of Geosciences found an unusual fragment. fossil lobsters, leading to an excavation project that has lasted for the past eight years and identified at least twelve phyla and 19 orders of individuals, “a complex marine ecosystem including a variety of fish and crustaceans.”

High-precision methods used today fossils They made it possible to determine that, despite the hostility of the marine environment, this ecosystem arose “only about a million years after the extinction”, much earlier than previously thought.

Although specimens have yet to be catalogued and analysed, fossils show that in the post-mass extinction period, “no slow and gradual recovery was observed,” said project leader Song Haijun.

The post-extinction period is thought to have opened up a warmer planet where tropical life bred, but this new study argues that there may have been periods of cooling in the tropics when a new climate marine ecosystem developed in earnest.

“In future, fossils Guiyang will bring new surprises that will give us insight into the origins of the modern marine ecosystem,” Song added.

(As reported by EFE)

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